Photo by Maria Valente
In an effort to promote the ongoing services and guidance they offer, the Pepperdine Career Center hosted “Resumania,” an event that focused on editing and perfecting student’s resumes.
A total of six students along with Career Center counselors and industry specialists gathered in the Fireside Room on Sept. 5 at 5 p.m. to discuss tips for successful resumes.
“This is going to be the first impression you give the employer,” event host Yeneba Smith said.
Smith followed with roughly 25 minutes of instruction on how to construct a college-ready resume. This included tips as detailed as having a professional email address and putting resume headings in bold.
“You’ll also want to spell out things like bachelor of arts,” Smith said. “Many employers use scanners that pick up keywords and spelling things out ensures a hit.”
Counselors provided each student with a one-on-one meeting with a Career Center counselor and industry specialist to undergo a thorough critique on their resume. Since there were so few students, each one-on-one occurred at its own private table.
“Whether you just need to tweak your resume to a specific job, or you have no resume at all, we want people to feel that they all can learn something,” Marketing and Events Manager Maile Hetherington said.
While Hetherington created the basic structure for the event, she said that bringing this event to life was a total group effort.
“Maile sets up events, and I execute them the day of,” said senior Diane Lindsey, who works as the marketing and events assistant in the Career Center. “[Today] I made sure we had all required information for students, and greeters at the door and things like that.”
While Smith gave a step-by-step guide to creating a “winning resume,” there were three key points she emphasized.
“Highlight your accomplishments, quantify details when you can, and be consistent in your resume style,” Smith said.
The event wasn’t only to help students with their resumes. Resumania also served to spread awareness about the Career Center and encouraged students to utilize it on a daily basis.
Not only did the Career Center hold events like Resumania, they also offered a variety of services in their office, located above the Pepperdine bookstore in the Tyler Campus Center. Students can practice interviewing, receive help with finding an internship or job, receive advisement on graduate school and meet one-on-one with industry specialists.
“We want to serve every student at Pepperdine and make sure they’re aware of the services the Career Center offers,” Hetherington said.
Resumania and other future events like it intend to bring more students to the Career Center to utilize its extensive functions. Students can find out more about these events by visiting the Career Center Events page.
Students like senior David Hong left feeling confident in their new and improved resumes. Hong said he came to Resumania for a last “check up” on his resume because he is soon applying for an internship and, hopefully, a job.
“This is definitely something that students should take advantage of,” Hong said.
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